thefouramigosblog

Oh I started out baby sitting as a young teenager. I also worked as a bookkeeping assistant at a car dealership in high school. Then I was a hostess at a restaurant. A clerk at an insurance company. A secretary at Hearst Publications back when Burt Reynolds’s did a centerfold for Cosmo. I was an administrative Assistant at several companies.

I decided to go to college at that point because I wasn’t liking my career choices. I worked at the NYU Press Office while in college. Also as a photographer’s rep.

I had a great job at a large insurance company in their Corporate Communication department. It was fun, interesting and I traveled a bit.

Then I moved with my husband and did some freelance writing. I changed career paths, went firvfilurthef education and worked as a counselor in a men’s prison.

For the final 10 years of my working career, I owned an alcohol and drug treatment center working with federal BOP and state probation.

I enjoyed all my latter-year jobs. I never made a fortune but I believe loving what you do is more important than how much you make. Nevertheless, I did make enough to support my family as a single mom. And enough money to retire and travel!

Well this is rather a difficult question since my beliefs are not normal mainstream religion. There’s Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Muslim, the Great Spirit and many others.

I kind of practice them all to a lesser or greater extent. My beliefs are the spirit is present in all and it’s man’s trimmings that made the religion. So God, Allah, Spirit or who ever you choose to call your higher power resides in all these practices.

Luckily I live in the US where I am free to practice whatever religion I choose to practice. And I can change my mind and practice one religion one day and another the next day.

So that being said, I try to practice more of a spiritual program based on love, kindness, compassion, and tolerance. I believe that this is the basis tenant of all religions and if this was practiced, our world would be a better place.

Before the internet, there was the World Book Encyclopedias. There were libraries with research books. Information was not readily available. Now its at your finger tips.

But with the good things come the not-so-good things. The isolation. The lack of communication between family members. The neck thing. This is most obvious with the use of phones. Heads are bent. Possibly in 30 years, people won’t be able to hold their heads up.

Also, bullying has gone to a whole new level. Children are subjected to this and it goes global instead of just local.

The surge in pornography and problems that brings to households.

And viewing horrendous things such as beheadings. What does that do to our society as a whole?

So I remember life definitely before the internet. It was simpler. We weren’t barraged with unwanted information. News was once or twice a day. It wasn’t a constant source of misinformation.

Sometimes I wish it would all go away and we could go back to those simpler times!

I’m a good listener. I don’t always need to hear myself talk. As a counselor, I would listen. I let people talk. I let people work things out through my listening and their talking.

As a mom, I listened to my child. I could hear what was said between the lines, Listening requires patience. Listening requires keeping still the voices in my head. Listening requires getting out of self and focusing on others.

Listening kept me safe in a violent world. Listening is a part of situational awareness. Knowing when to move forward or retreat.

It’s a practice that can help guide one through life and it’s a gift. I am grateful that I am good at it.

Having it all means having enough. Being satisfied with what I have and not always looking for more.

Our society has become one of success being measured by how much you have. Keeping up with the next guy.

My measurement of success is being happy with all that I have. Having gratitude for what I have been given.

Most of the things I measure having it all in included love, friendships, and health rather than material goods. Not saying I don’t have those things. I own a home. I own a car. I travel a lot. And I don’t have to worry about money.

But I have lots of love in my life, I have the dearest of friendships and my health is relatively good for someone in their 70s. So measuring those things, I have it all and have great gratitude for everybody in my life!

Life is Grand!

Fortunately I have surrounded myself throughout my life with wise counsel. Be it the sage wisdom of my father, the loving support of my mother or the consistent pattern of listening from my sister, all have added to my well being. Unfortunately, they have gone to the great spirit in the sky and no longer able to communicate with me.

Today I still find sage advice and loyal and loving support through family and friends.

My husband is a source of grounding. He helps me make sense of my thoughts and actions. Several friends helped me see the humor in life’s foibles when they could cause me to give up and bury my head in the sand.

Humor – of course that makes life better.

I veer away from negativity. It can be detrimental to my well being. So I find people who are positive. Luckily I have several.

And of course I can talk to my higher power in its infinite wisdom. And I try not to just use my brain power as my guiding light. It has been known to take me down dark alleys.

I can’t say that I hold any personal belongings most dear. Maybe my wedding ring. Maybe my photo books.

But people, especially those I love I hold most dear. I’ve found that most things are replaceable but people are not.

When you lose a loved one I cherish the memories. I miss them. My daughter said at the age of 9 when my father her Poppop was dying, “You are never dead until you are forgotten.”

So not too many things. Although I do like to look at pictures of my Mom and Dad. My Dad was in the Navy during WWII. My mother was a hot number.